free the hikers

In 2009, I got word that two friends of two friends of mine were captured in Iran and that the situation was pretty serious. What none of us realized at the time was how long the journey would be for them to come home. On July 31st of that year Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd were imprisoned by Iranian authorities. For around 26-months a growing community effort, turned international movement swelled up with a constant call for their release. I began documenting the Freethehikers movement, and these are some of the images. To me, the most poignant event that I saw was when activist Tristan Anderson gave one of his first on camera interviews since returning to the U.S. after spending 15-months in an Tel Aviv hospital recovering from mortar fire. Tristan quietly but powerfully called for the immediate release of Josh & Shane, with Sarah by his side.

The last photo in this series is from Shane & Josh’s homecoming to the Bay Area. I have no idea why the couch is in the middle of the room, or what happened before or after. I just know that all their friends and family were elated that they were finally together again.